In many medical situations, it is typical to provide a valve, such as a solid rubber septum on a Y-site or a sample site, which is accessible by a needle piercing through the septum in order to introduce fluids into, or remove blood from, a line coupled to a patient's circulatory system via a catheter inserted into the patient such as through the arm. With such needle-piercable valves, the top of the valve is usually adjacent to or at the top of the valve or site housing and so may be readily wiped clean before each use. While this is advantageous for aseptic purposes, the use of sharp needles presents hazards to medical and other personnel due to the risk of needle sticks which could transmit disease.
In order to reduce or eliminate needle stick problems, it has been proposed to replace the needle-piercable rubber septum with a blunt cannula-accessible valve, such as a rubber piece with a slit septum. The slit septum opens under pressure of a blunt cannula thereagainst to allow the blunt cannula to pass into and through the slit and into communication with the fluid line. This type of needleless valve is shown and described, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/216,640, filed Mar. 23, 1994, assigned to the assignee hereof. The disclosure of the aforesaid application Ser. No. 08/216,640 is incorporated herein by reference.
As will be appreciated, however, repeated insertion and removal of a blunt cannula through a valve having a rubber slit septum may be difficult and may have deleterious effects on the rubber septum, such as tearing thereof, etc., which decreases the useful life of the valve. Thus there has developed a need for an improved needleless valve wherein the use thereof is enhanced and the useful life is extended.